John Barnes - Directive 51

She finished the kids’ adventures of the day as they approached the Marana city limit. “What would you like to do when we get home?” she asked. “The kids’ll be asleep.”

“Truth is, after something like this, I like to sit out and look at the stars. I was thinking I’d drag the chase lounge away from the pool and out into the back yard.”

“Would you like company? We’ve got another chaise.”

“Okay, you take the shezz and I’ll take the chase .” His favorite joke about the only thing she remembered from two years of French. “As long as you promise to try to sleep, young lady. I usually don’t till really late. Somewhere around dawn I’ll want to take a shower and go to bed.” He stretched, and said, “And thanks for going along with my weirdness. I don’t usually get to do this after combat missions.” He sighed. “Then again, I don’t shoot down and kill the vice president every day, either.”

They didn’t say anything else while they set up the chaise longues to sleep on; she left a window open in Chloe’s room, and the boys’, so she could hear if she was needed, and when she returned from making sure everything was all right inside, Greg was already focused on the stars, as if he might fall right into the sky. But he whispered, “I love you,” as she pulled the covers over herself, and she said it back.

“All right,” Cameron said, looking around from the center of the room.

“Marshall, up on the screen please.”

The big screen displayed:

The United States and other countries have been attacked by an international conspiracy called Daybreak, which is working together with il’Alb il-Jihado, the organization that killed the Vice President. Federal authorities have identified many members of the conspiracy and are rounding them up, but they have released large amounts of dangerous nanoswarm and biotes, which are microscopic, self-replicating devices and organisms, and we need the help of all citizens to cope with the emergency. We ask that all citizens do the following:

1. Watch out for grayish or whitish crumbs around electrical/electronic devices. They may grow in less than an hour, so recheck frequently if the device is operating. If you find them:

a. Scrape sample into glass jar w/metal lid.

b. Wipe down with lye, ammonia, borax, or baking soda.

c. Rinse carefully with water.

d. Wait for instructions about where to turn in sample.

2. Check under your car’s hood for white crystals before driving and at least every fifty miles. If you find any, clean with lye, ammonia, borax, or baking-soda solution followed by clean water, making sure to remove all visible traces of the white crystals.

3. Watch out for strange smells, particularly like baking bread, mildew, mold, spoiling milk, or rotting meat, around plastic, rubber, or synthetic fibers. If plastic containers smell like they are spoiling, promptly move contents to metal or glass containers; save a sample of the spoiling plastic or rubber for government scientists if you have a clean, airtight glass or metal container you can spare for it.

4. Smell your tires before driving. If they smell like rotten eggs or ripe garbage, do not drive!

5. Keep gasoline, kerosene, lamp fuel, etc. tightly sealed in clean containers; try to use a whole container at once when you open one. If fuel smells like bread, fruit, vinegar, or beer, discard it at once—NOT down a drain—and do not use that container for fuel again.

6. Disinfect plastic you want to keep with alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or bleach; be careful not to use strong chemicals on materials that cannot stand up to them. Do not try to disinfect gasoline or other fuels.

7. Watch for neighbors, particularly people with passionately Green politics or members of extreme environmental organizations, who came and went at unusual times on October 27, 28, or 29.

8. Watch for neighbors who have been unusually active in computer activities, particularly if they are not regularly employed in the industry.

9. Watch for neighbors who have taken up hobby biohacking in the past three years.

10. If you suspect neighbors may have been involved in Daybreak, consider them dangerous. Do not approach them yourself but do contact the nearest law enforcement agency.

“Anyone have any ideas about what else needs to be in the announcement?”

“If they can’t put the fuel down the drain, how do they discard it?” a woman asked from the far corner.

“Working on that, but we may have no answer,” a man scribbling on a pad next to Cam said.

“Tell them to take the precautions they would if they were going to lose power or other utilities in the next few days,” Edwards suggested.

“Tell them to take special care if they have family members with electronic or plastic artificial parts,” Lenny said. “Keep plastic surfaces and electrical contacts clean, and don’t unnecessarily expose them to outside air.”

There were a half dozen more suggestions before Cam said, “All right, that’s it, that will go out on every channel as—”

From the hallway next to the big screen, Roger Pendano came in, standing tall, his eyes dry. He’d combed his hair and straightened his clothes. He still looks like hell, Heather thought.

Graham Weisbrod moved quietly into the room behind him, standing against the wall, with his hands behind his back.

“Mr. Nguyen-Peters, I have something for you,” Pendano said, “that may or may not be helpful, but I think is necessary.” His voice was flat, dull, and emotionless. He held out a piece of paper. “Here.”

Cameron reached out as if he were being handed a live cobra or electric wire. He read. “Mr. President, are you sure that this is what you want to do?”

“No, but I’m quite sure it’s the best thing for the country.” For the first time, Pendano seemed to see the hundred other people in the main ops room. “It’s very simple. I’ve invoked Section Three of Amendment Twenty-five; I’m declaring myself temporarily incapable. I need to get out of the way and let someone who can focus solve the problem. I’m going to go out the back way and return to the White House, and put myself in the care of a doctor. Then, I suppose, we shall see. Thank you all for your patience.”

He shook Cameron’s hand. “Just do your duty; don’t second-guess yourself too much.” To Graham he added, “Dr. Weisbrod, I’m sorry that I’m not quite up to the job you always thought I had the ability for. I thought so, too, but I guess we were both wrong.”

“Roger, please don’t—”

“We’ll talk, some day when there’s time.” He looked around at them as if memorizing their faces. “Everything else can wait. Get this country a President, and then… and then…”

To Heather’s horror, he began to cry, first just sobbing with tears trickling down his face, still standing upright, trying to wipe his eyes with his sleeve, but then bending forward and breaking down completely, great wracking howls and cries, like a tantruming child, or a wounded ape. Weisbrod and Cam rushed to his side. The Secret Service had him out the door in another moment, but not one of the hundred people in the room could un-see what they had just seen, no matter how much they might wish it.

Del had walked toward the lights of the distant town. With his flashlight also dead, he’d been unable to find his sneakers in the dark truck cab, and he’d had to walk there in his cowboy boots. He found a cop waiting by the main road, and before he’d gotten half his story out, the policeman had introduced him to a chemistry teacher from the local high school, and they were on their way back, in the police cruiser, to take samples from Del’s truck. At least I have one hell of a good excuse, he thought. Also, that hippie asshole that tricked me into taking that black egg? I don’t mind describing him three thousand times if it means they catch his stupid butt. I’m just sorry they can’t hang him.